An electrolysis cell that couples energy storage with water purification and reuse has been developed as part of a wider project to make a self-sustaining toilet.
Electrochemical approaches to water purification are not unknown but often focus on wastewater in industrially developed areas. Michael Hoffmann, and colleagues at the California Institute of Technology in the US, hope their electrochemical water splitting method for purifying human waste, at the same time as generating hydrogen gas, will eventually be introduced into areas with underdeveloped infrastructure.
Read the full article at Chemistry World.
Electrochemical treatment of human waste coupled with molecular hydrogen production
Kangwoo Cho, Daejung Kwon and Michael R. Hoffmann
RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 4596-4608
DOI: 10.1039/C3RA46699J